


One Breath

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Firefly
Genre: Bingo, Community: 1-million-words, Escape, Gen, Insanity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-19
Updated: 2014-03-19
Packaged: 2018-01-16 19:17:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1358845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>River tracks her breathing</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Breath

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 1MW bingo prompt, "Breath"

One breath, breathing in and breathing out. Involuntary bodily function.

One sigh. Sigh of relief, of success, of giddy joy at being found, of fear that this is another illusion.

One gasp, as strong hands too solid to not be real touch for the first time, gasp of pain and fright and thank god and I knew you would find me.

One breath, the last breath of the air in this lab, of pain and fear and chemicals and their _greed_. One last breath for them to record before it was replaced by silence.

One exhale, too early to call it a giggle, to excited to call it a sob, too momentous to call it a grunt. But a moment of expression long denied. Voluntary.

One gulp, a reaction to velocity, involuntary, but not restrained. Enjoyed, rather than denied. A reaction to experiencing stimuli through physical means instead of mental.

One breath, of free clear air. One moment, before the darkness descended again in the name of safety. One breath, to confirm. One breath, to celebrate.

Steady breaths, regulated by machine. Involuntary, necessary, keeping pace until true freedom is found. No different from those produced in the other lab.

Until that one breath.


End file.
